


thank goodness you're open

by PipTheMagnificent



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: 24 hour convenience store in a sketchy area AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Powers, As in they don't know each other, Cats are the ultimate matchmakers, Coffee shop au? We don't know her, Endgame Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, F/M, Lukanette, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PipTheMagnificent/pseuds/PipTheMagnificent
Summary: Luka doesn't really know what's up with the pretty girl who keeps coming into the store during his shift at 2 AM and buying the most random stuff, but he definitely wants to figure it out.
Relationships: Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 22
Kudos: 186





	thank goodness you're open

**Author's Note:**

> School is a pain but I managed to find time to write this. 
> 
> Inspired by [this](https://pipthemagnificentwrites.tumblr.com/post/627568244762542080/prokopetz-out-coffee-shop-aus-in-24-hour) Tumblr post. Also, this game where you run into a convenience store, grab the two most random things you can, and run to the cashier and scream "Thank goodness you're open!" before paying and running out. It's fun.

You see a lot when you work at a 24 hour convenience store in a sketchy neighborhood. Luka has seen the people high out of their minds, the drunk girls coming in from the clubs, even the occasional gunshot wound. He’s pretty immune to all that now. Hell, he was even robbed one night, and all he wanted was for the guy to hurry up, because his shift was almost over.

What he’s not immune to is the pretty girl who keeps coming in at random times and making his heart race faster than it ever did when the gun was being pointed at him.

i. Takis, duct tape, and a travel neck pillow.

The first time he sees her, she runs into a door.

“It’s a pull, not a push,” his manager calls after her kindly as she rubs her forehead, blushing bright red, and pulls open the door with a quick thank you in reply to the man. Her bag, filled with the odd assortment of Takis, duct tape, and a travel pillow, bumps against the door as she exits.

She’d come in a minute earlier and walked deliberately to grab the duct tape and the pillow. Luka had noticed her because, well, she was hot.

Black hair, blue eyes, fit… even if the dark circles under her eyes were a bit scary.

She had walked up to him at the register, and he’d been all prepared to check her out quickly and go back to the book he’d been reading, when she plopped her items down and spoke up.

“Do you have any of those chips?”

She had a pretty voice, sweet and high.

Luka cleared his throat, rough from misuse. They didn’t really get many customers during his shift normally.

“Which chips?”

She grimaced, twisting her lips up funnily. “I can’t actually remember the name, it’s on the tip of my tongue. You know, the red ones? They’re spicy and they look long… tacos? Tickles?”

Luka laughed. “Tickles?”

She blushed. “Something like that.”

He knew what she was talking about. Takis, obviously. But she was cute when she was flustered, and he was bored.

“What’ll you give me for the information?” he leaned forward on his elbows, resting gently on the counter separating them.

She spluttered. “Um… nothing?”

Luka sighed. “Well, then I can’t help you.”

“I’ll let you have one of them,” she teased back. Her eyes had a sparkle in them, and Luka liked the spunk she was showing. She had more mettle than her appearance, all pink and soft, would suggest. If she had resisted, he would have stopped, but she was playing along. Nice.

“One?” he scoffed. “Do you think I’m that easily bought?”

“Two.”

“Fine. You drive a hard bargain.” He walked around the counter and leaned down to grab a bag of Takis from where they were stuffed on the racks of chips. “Here you go,” he said, handing them to her.

He moved back to his seat behind the counter, ready to check her out. She slid over some money, and motioned for him to keep the change.

“In exchange for the Takis.”

He gasped. “You’re cheating me out of my Takis?”

She laughed as she grabbed her bag off the counter. “I’m sure you’ll survive,” she said, and promptly walked into the door.

“Are you sure you will?” Luka said, and she blushed.

“It’s a pull, not a push,” his manager says from where he’s sorting through the old tax returns at the back, chuckling to himself.

The girl flushes even more, mutters a quick thank you, and flings herself out the door.

ii. Mug saying “I’m called Nana because I’m way too cool to be called Grandmother.” A few fake flowers. And a giant thing of tea leaves.

Luka keeps an eye out for the girl for the next few days, but she doesn’t show up, and he forgets. To be fair, the deadline for the album he’s playing backing guitar for is coming up, and that combined with his late night shifts at the convenience store makes it hard to think of anything much beyond his next cup of coffee.

Two weeks pass by, and Luka doesn’t really think about the girl much beyond a passing thought when he restocks the duct tape.

However, she is very much on his mind when the door slams open, bell ringing frantically.

She’s clearly in a hurry, although what she could be doing at 2 AM he doesn’t know. She’s wearing pajama bottoms that are too long, and they’re getting caught under her sandals. Her T-shirt is ripped at the edge and she has a few cuts on her arm, almost like she was clawed at by something.

She huffs to herself as she stops in front of the mugs, and she grabs one with a look of endless suffering. Marching over to the food, she picks up a bag of tea before moving on to the tiny art and decoration section (it takes up less than half an aisle. Luka thinks he’s sold maybe one actual item from there in the six months he’s worked at the store). She ponders the pitiful selection of fake wire flowers, eventually settling on a few different colors and types.

She piles the whole mess on the counter. Luka scans the flowers first, then the tea, and finally he picks up the mug. He can’t help but snort as he reads it.

“Nice mug, Nana. Very cool.”

The girl jumps. Luka wonders if she’d even noticed he was there. She looked half asleep.

“Oh!” She shakes her head like a dog shaking off water, and blinks before smiling at him. “Yeah, it was the best of the worst.”

“A step up from World’s Greatest Father, huh?”

“Definitely.”

“€12.75.”

“What?”

“The price?”

The girl smacks her forehead as she hands over her card. “Oh my god, I’m an idiot. Sorry I’m so tired, I’ve been up for like 32 hours straight.”

Luka thinks she looks really damn good for not having slept in what is essentially two days.

She waves goodbye as she leaves. Miraculously, she doesn’t bump into the door this time.

iii. Five bottles of Elmer’s glue and all the newspapers in the store.

The third time he sees her, it’s only been two days since the last time. He’d been worried it would be longer, and he wonders what that says for his feelings about her. It’s been a while since he really liked anyone. It’s silly, he thinks. He doesn’t even know her name. But it’s hard to remember that when she walks in looking like some sort of avenging angel in leggings.

She looks a lot more rested, but not any less stressed as she walks right in and thumps both hands flat against his counter.

“I need all the glue and newspapers you have,” she announces. Luka almost feels tempted to turn around, as if there’s some glue and newspaper seller standing there behind him, magically conjured by the force of her gaze.

But no, there’s just him in a ratty green apron and a name tag that has Bob crossed out and Luka squeezed in in tiny writing above it.

“I don’t know if we have that much newspaper, but the glue is in the arts section. I can check the back for newspaper while you get that, if you want.”

She beams at him. “Thank you!”

Luckily, the manager is willing to part with the old newspapers he gets from the guy on the corner every day, and Luka gets a stack at least a meter high.

He piles it on the counter next to the five bottles of Elmer’s Glue the girl has scrounged up from the deepest depths of the art shelves, and he feels like a champion when she smiles at him gratefully.

“You saved my life, thank you.”

“It's my job,” he says, awkwardly. “But, um, what do you need with all these newspapers? And glue?”

“Art project,” she says distractedly, digging in her purse for her card. “How much?”

“4.95.”

She looks up and eyes the giant stack of newspapers. “For all that?”

“On the house,” Luka says, waving a hand at her protests. “They’re not officially sold here, and they’d just end up in the trash if you didn’t take them.”

She huffs, but concedes, although she leaves a ridiculous amount of change in the tip jar before she leaves, giant stack of newspapers threatening to tip her over.

“So…” His manager appears in the doorway of the back room. “Who’s she?”

iv. A 12 pack of Monster Energy.

The next time she comes in is actually a scant few hours later. She seems significantly more frazzled than she did earlier in the evening, and he guesses she still has to finish that project.

Some more evidence to the affirmative piles up when she slides a huge 12 pack of Monster Energy drinks in front of him with a deadened look in her eyes.

“Late night?” he asks as he swipes her card, and she groans.

“My project is just not cooperating and it’s due in two days, but it needs at least a day to dry, so I need to finish tonight.”

“What are you making?” He’s genuinely curious as to what this girl, all frantic energy and starving artist vibes, could be studying.

She perks up a bit. “I’m a Fashion Design major at the university, and for one of my classes they have us doing this project on non-traditional fabrics. I tried using bottle caps as a sort of chain mail first, but I ran out of caps and they weren’t linking as close as I wanted, so I switched to newspapers, and now I’m working on a coat. I have the base layer made out of a stiff fabric and I’m modgepodging newspapers on to make the top and additional designs, like the sleeves, the edging, and the collar. My issue is that modgepoding it on makes the words smear, and I wanted the newspaper print to be clear, so I’m experimenting with different mixtures of the modge podge. The ratio is tricky though, and I think right now it’s too watery-” she stops. “Sorry, I know that’s probably not that interesting.”

“No, I like hearing about it. I don’t know much about fashion but it’s cool to hear about.”

“Thanks.” She smiles. “I should probably go finish this project now, but maybe next time I come in we can talk more?”

“Sure.” Luka tries not to reveal how happy he is, but a grin is threatening to break out.

The girl picks up her drinks easily and goes to leave, but just before exiting, she calls back “See you later Luka!”

He jumps. _How did she know his name? Did she stalk him on Instagram? That’s kind of flattering…_ He leans forward to grab his phone and there’s a small clink as something hits the register.

He looks down.

 _Ahhh._ His nametag stares back at him knowingly.

v. Ice cream, candy, two matching face masks, nail polish, a bottle of cheap wine, a DVD.

She doesn’t come back for the next three days. Luka uses the time to impress her with some newly acquired fashion knowledge. He watched some fashion history videos on Youtube, and he skimmed through a recent edition of Vogue that was on the rack of magazines. Probably enough to not make a fool of himself.

But when she does come in, she’s not alone. There’s another girl with her, with red rimmed eyes and a loud voice. Loud voice, he says, because she’s currently bemoaning her lack of a boyfriend at top volume as they browse through the big wall to wall refrigerators. The girls grab two things of ice cream and start picking through the shelves of candy, each choosing a few. When they move to the basket of face masks, his (?) girl looks up and catches his eyes.

He smiles, not ashamed at all to be caught watching her. She waves, and says something to her friend before walking over.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

They stand there, slightly awkward but happy.

“So,” Luka starts. “Having a girl’s night?”

“Yeah, she’s in a fight with her boyfriend right now.”

“I thought she said she didn’t have a boyfriend?”

“Oh, she doesn’t,” the girl laughs. “Not right now. Give them a day and they’ll be back together.”

“I take it this happens a lot,” Luka says dryly, and they both chuckle.

“You could say that.”

“How did your project go?”

The girl beams. “It was really great! I got a 94.”

“Congrats- uh, I don’t know your name.”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, I guess it’s kind of unfair that you have to wear a nametag. My name is-”

“Marinette!” The other girl yells from somewhere in the aisles. “Where are you girl?”

“Marinette,” she finishes with a shrug. “I better go find her.”

Marinette. Luka rolls the name over in his mind. It sounds musical almost, and it feels nice on his tongue. It’d probably fit nicely into a song, he thinks, and he pulls out the notebook he keeps by the register to scribble down some notes while he waits for them to come check out.

He’s gotten one verse down, something about blueberry eyes making him feel like he’s sparkling water, when Marinette and her friend appear at the register.

“Did you find everything you needed?” He asks as he swipes their purchases, and Marinette nods.

“Oooh! Add this too,” the brown haired girl pipes in, grabbing a DVD of the latest cheesy rom com from the small rack by the door.

“Thank you,” Marinette says as he hands her the bag, and he smiles.

“No problem.”

“He’s cute,” the other girl hisses loudly in her ear, and Marinette blushes bright red and shoos her out the door.

“Bye Luka,” she says, still bright red, and slips outside.

vi. Milk, cat food, a fluffy christmas blanket, toilet paper.

It’s nearly midnight when Marinette comes in the next day.

It’s raining outside, and she looks soaked, her hair bedraggled and her tailored coat clinging to her. She’s clutching her wool hat in her hands. Luka thinks she looks adorable.

“Luka!” She runs over to him. “Help me.”

He shoots up from his seat. “What’s wrong?”

“I found this cat! I was walking over to get toilet paper and I heard it yowling from under the dumpster in the alley, and it looked so cold and wet, and it’s so small that I just had to take it and I put it in my hat and now it’s here! And I need to help it!” She takes a heaving breath.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’ll help you take care of it. Give me a second.” He turns and disappears into the back.

When he pokes his head into his manager’s office, he’s met with a waved hand.

“Go. It’s not like anyone comes in here anyway. I’ll go sit out there.”

“Thank you,” Luka says, not quite believing his luck, and then he books it out of there before he can change his mind.

Marinette is exactly where he left her, dripping on the linoleum floor and worrying over the tiny fluffball currently wrapped in her hat.

“Okay, I got off for today.”

“What?” she looks up with startled eyes. “Luka, you didn’t have to. We barely know each other.”

“But I’d like to get to know you better.” She blushes. “And I want to help this little guy. I promise, I’m not a serial killer or some shit. Tell Alya I’m helping if you want.”

“Thank you.” They both look down at the kitten, scrawny and wet curled up in her hat laying on the counter. “What do I get? I’ve never had a cat.”

“I had one years ago, when I was a kid, but I don’t remember that much. We probably need food and a bed to start.”

“Do you have cat food here?”

“Yeah, there’s some in the back aisle. You watch the cat and I’ll go grab it.”

He leaves her sitting in his chair, stroking the kitten with one light finger, as he goes off to find supplies. He manages to get a few cans of food, a gallon of milk, a fluffy Christmas blanket from the discounted section (considering that it’s February now, it’s super cheap), and the toilet paper she had mentioned.

She pays for it, and Luka stuffs everything into two bags as they prepare to make the mad dash through the rain to her apartment, which she says is only two blocks away.

No matter how much preparation they have, however, it isn’t enough, and by the time Marinette throws open the door to her apartment building, they’re soaked to the bone. It’s a relief to enter her tiny studio apartment, even if it’s only marginally warmer than outside.

“The heater’s broken,” Marinette explains as she shrugs off her coat. “I have stuff you can borrow if you want. It won’t fit perfectly, but… anything’s better than that.”

“Okay Ms. Fashion Designer,” Luka says, imitating her sniff at his raggedy jeans and hoodie, now both dripping wet, and they both laugh.

“Yeah, I’ll get you something.” She disappears behind a folding partition he assumes hides her bed from immediate view and soon a pair of sweatpants labeled with the university name and a giant flannel are tossed over the wall. “You can change in the bathroom,” she calls. “It’s on your right.”

When he emerges from the bathroom, there’s a sweet smell of chocolate in the air, and the kitten has been rubbed off with a towel and laid down to explore the fluffy Christmas blanket.

“Hot chocolate?” Marinette offers, and then smacks herself. “Wait, only if you don’t mind drinking from a bowl…”

“What?”

“Remember the Nana mug?” He nods. “That’s the only mug I have. I tripped one day and tried to clutch onto my floating shelf, but I accidentally broke it, and all the mugs on the shelf fell and shattered. So, yeah. I only have the one mug.”

He snorts. “Wow, so graceful.” It has him wondering about her other odd purchases, however, and he starts looking around as she ladles him some hot chocolate in a bowl.

There’s the travel pillow, duct taped to a rolling office chair to form a makeshift headrest. Near that, the wire flowers are lying next to some replicas made from fabric that are clearly meant to be pinned onto the dress hanging from one of the two mannequins in the room. The other mannequin is wearing a really cool newspaper coat, styled to look like a cross between menswear and a corseted top. There’s a few empty cans of Monster Energy on the desk, and the rom com DVD is on the TV stand. It’s cool to see where all these purchases were used, he thinks, and he tells her that.

“Yeah,” she giggles. “I probably confused you. Always coming in at 2 AM and buying the most random stuff.”

“No, you made life interesting. I wanted to get to know you.”

“Oh.” Marinette blushes, and it contrasts prettily with the whipped cream mustache she has going on.

“Are you going to keep the kitten?”

“If I can,” she says. “This building allows pets, so I don’t think it’ll be an issue. And I’ve always wanted a pet.”

“What do you think you’ll name him?”

“I don’t know yet.”

They both glance over at the kitten. Now that he’s dry, he has a pretty orange ginger tint to his fur.

“What about Taki?”

Marinette scrunches her nose. “Taki?”

“It’s the first thing you bought from me. And if you hadn’t been coming to the store, you wouldn’t have seen him.”

“Taki.” She thinks it over. “It’s growing on me.”

Luka grins. “I think it’s cute.”

“Yeah, I like it. Taki.” She clicks her tongue at the kitten, and he jumps to attention. “Hey Taki!” He meows. “He likes it!”

As the night wears on, they move down to the ground to play with the little kitten, and then to the couch to watch a movie, both insisting they should probably stay up to make sure Taki is doing okay, although he’s obviously fine.

Turns out, the heat being broken is a really good excuse for Luka to snuggle into Marinette’s side. They watch the movie in a peaceful quiet, just enjoying each other’s company. There’s no hurry to leave. Marinette had said before they were starting it’d probably be better for her to have him stay the night so she’d have an ‘experienced cat owner’ in the morning to help. Luka isn’t complaining.

The movie credits are rolling, and the room is in near blackness when he finally breaks the silence.

“Mari…“

“Yeah?” She sounds half asleep, only the slow motion of her carding her hand through his hair assures him she’s awake.

“I’m really glad you came to the store tonight.”

“Me too,” she whispers, and Luka smiles at the ceiling, happy.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, so I'm not totally happy with how that ended, but I have a literal ton of work to do, so I'm calling it a day. College applications are no joke, kids. Plus FIVE FREAKING AP COURSES I DON'T KNOW WHY I DO IT TO MYSELF. 
> 
> Anyways, that was the fic. I def think I rushed the development at the end but yolo. Also if you see any mistakes please lmk!
> 
> I'm on Tumblr [here](https://pipthemagnificentwrites.tumblr.com) and I'd love to chat!
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day :)


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